It turns out that Liverpool will also be without an influential midfielder, because their appeal against Didi Hamann's suspension has failed.

Hamann was red carded against Sunderland, and 'pool's appeal seems to have had the (somewhat irrelevant) basis that contact was not made. Intent, scousers, intent.

There may be good news for Arsenal though. We don't want to get anyone's hopes up too much, but it could be that Tony Adams will be back for this match. Both he and Lee Dixon are in what is described as "medium" training, and it has been widely reported that neither of them will be risked until the end of this month.

But the Mirror reports this morning that Adams may have targeted the Anfield clash for his comeback. He says, "With more running and gym work, I could be ready to play in 10 days or so", they say.

While Adams return would not directly compensate for Vieira's absence, in that Tone is no midfielder, and the other 3 central defenders aren't doing so bad at the minute, the boost which his availability would give could well make up for any downheartedness at Vieira's absence.

And we do have other midfielders too. The performances of Ljungberg and Pires, for example, occasionally fail to be completely overshadowed by that of Vieira. And one can hardly pay a midfielder a higher compliment than that. :-)